Don Draper is a problem solver. It’s what he does for a living and it’s how he’s defined himself as a human. It is how he described their roles as advertisers to Peggy when she was striving for more art than science in her work. For his clients, Draper applies his creative force to make ads that solve business problems. In his life, he’s applied his charm, powers of persuasion and financial wherewithal to everything from caring for senile family members to rearranging the living room furniture. For a man whose very identity is based on intricate lies that continually cause problems, Don Draper is an adroit problem solver.

Of course, there are some problems in life that have no cure and for people like Don that is crushing.

Continue reading Mad Men – The Good News →

I love Christmas. I always have. I especially like pop music Christmas songs from the late-50s and early 60s. They sound so perfect, so happy, and so…well, jolly. But the best of the lot generally include a naughty wink and a nod or a touch of sadness at the thought of loved ones you won’t be seeing this year or ghosts of Christmases past. It is these songs that make up the soundtrack of Christmas 1964 at Sterling Cooper Price & Draper.

What better image of the ideal mid-century American Christmas than that of tree shopping with the family? There they are: Sally, Bobby, Betty and…Henry (AKA, New Daddy). And who should emerge from the shadows but poor, damaged Glen Bishop, the boy the whole neighborhood felt sad for as the product of [gasp!] DIVORCE. Now it’s Glen who’s dishing out the sympathy to young Sally, herself just recently entering this broken family world. Glen drops some wisdom on Sally to score the guilt gifts now before Betty and Henry start in on Family 2.0. Gotta hand it to him, the creepy little bastard is smart.

They’re singin’ ‘Deck the Halls’

And all the fun we had last year

Continue reading Mad Men – Christmas Comes But Once a Year →

There was a scene sometime back where Don Draper is in an elevator with a woman and two dopes who are regaling in sexual conquests and fantasies about office girls. The woman is clearly uncomfortable with the conversation and Draper responds with a pointed but subtle gesture by telling one of the cads to remove his hat in the presence of a lady. He puts a fine point on it by removing the hat for him and shoving it into loud mouth’s chest. It was what Mad Men creator Matt Weiner described as an illustration of “the coarsening of America” that took place as a bi-product of the liberated 1960s. From the looks of season four’s premier, that coarsening has infected Mad Men itself.

Season Three ended shortly after the Kennedy assassination, putting it in late 1963. Given the fact that Don Draper is talking to an Advertising Age reporter about the crazy year his upstart agency has just had (culminating in what appears to be a ground breaking ad for Glo-Coat Floor Wax), we can guess that we’re somewhere in 1964 or so. That means it’s a Mod Mod Mod World and by the looks of the décor at the new Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s headquarters, Manhattan has gone Pop Art.

Continue reading Mad Men – Public Relations →

What’s worse than being caught in a lie? Maybe being caught in a lie that you’ve perpetuated for years and one that is the foundation of your entire marital relationship. As his wife Betty says, Don Draper is a very, very talented story teller but a story like Don’s requires you to engage in a suspension of disbelief. Everyone suspected there was something up with Don Draper but nobody wanted to dig deep enough to discover just what. I mean, who wants to destroy a character so perfectly drawn? Who wants to dismantle a fantasy so seamlessly executed? Burt Cooper himself was willing to keep the dream alive as long as he had exclusive rights to Draper’s talents. But everyone eventually wakes up from dreams and this week Betty Draper awoke from hers.

Don Draper is a man who strains against boundaries. He is not one to be kept, not at work and certainly not at home. So it’s no surprise that Draper splashes on a little extra after shave as soon as Betty and the kids hit the road for a week to argue over the dearly departed Grandpa Gene’s estate. Yes, it’s time for a little quality time with The Other Woman.

And what a woman Ms. Ferrell has turned out to be. I think most of us saw a twinkle of Glenn Close in her eyes when she plopped down beside Draper on his morning commute, but she seems more inclined to cook up Don’s dinner than his pet rabbit. “I swear, I’m not talking about our future,” she says to Don in a late night conversation, though she adds that whether she pictures herself in Don’s life or not, she sees an unhappy man. “I’m happy now,” he replies. And who wouldn’t be? Draper lives in the moment and at that moment he had a foxy young school teacher in his arms and a Johnny Walker buzz in his head. Life was good.

Continue reading Mad Men – The Gypsy and the Hobo →